Ballymoney’s Michael Dunlop has completed a deal which will see him ride a BMW S1000RR at the Isle of Man TT, North West 200, and the Ulster and Macau Grands Prix in 2014.

The deal, which has been widely rumoured for some time, will come as a huge relief for Dunlop who was facing a year off following his acrimonious split from Honda and Milwaukee Yamaha’s withdrawal from the TT because of new technical rules.

Stuart Hicken’s Hawk Racing, who run the Buildbase squad in British Superbikes, will be responsible for the infrastructure in partnership with BMW Motorrad. The team will be running both a Superstock BMW in Dunlop Racing livery and a Superbike BMW S1000RR in BMW Motorsport livery

“I’m really pleased to have signed for such a strong and competitive team. The BMW S 1000 RR certainly has the speed for the TT and, with my experience, and the support from BMW/Hawk Racing, I know we have a race-winning package. I really thought about sitting out this year, but I have found a team that I am really comfortable with and the support from the BMW factory will make us a force to be reckoned with this year,” said Dunlop.

The BMW/Hawk Racing team will be jointly managed by BMW Motorrad and Stuart Hicken, fresh from the Buildbase BMW Motorrad team’s best ever performance in the 2013 British Superbike Championship. Building on their strong relationship and experience with the factory, the team has secured BMW Motorrad factory support for the 2014 road race programme through Berthold Hauser (Technical Director HP Race Support).

“We are extremely pleased to have assembled such an experienced road racing team for next year. We have been working on it for a while and I genuinely believe that with Michael, the staff from BMW and the S1000RR, we have secured all the elements we need to be at the sharp end, challenging for wins at the TT,” said Hicken.